You're not depressed - but you may have this condition that you've never heard of, reveals DR MAX PEMBERTON

Do you often feel down, or view the world from a ‘glass half-empty’ perspective? Frequently feeling ‘fed up’ is certainly an unhappy way to go through life, but did you know, according to recent research, it could actually make a significant difference to whether or not you fall ill and even die prematurely?.

Scientists at Oxford University tracked half a million people in the UK and studied the effects of a range of ‘modifiable’ environmental factors – meaning the harm could be prevented – on several diseases including cancers of the breast, lung, prostate, ovaries, colon, pancreas, liver, oesophagus and blood.

Some factors – such as smoking, poor diet, living in a deprived area and exercise levels – may come as little surprise. But I was particularly struck that someone’s attitude to life can also affect them so profoundly that it can actually significantly increase their risk of premature death.

It’s well known that severe depression is a serious condition that ruins lives and requires medical help. Yet apart from this there are also a lot of people who, although not clinically depressed, find themselves nevertheless blighted by negativity they can’t shake off.

This is a condition known as ‘dysthymia’ – persistent, low mood that brings with it little interest in life, a general sense of unfulfillment and a lack of productivity. Sadly, because it doesn’t tend to interfere with day-to-day life in the way that depression does, those affected often don’t seek treatment – and family and friends just dismiss them as being ‘a bit of a grump’ or a ‘misery’.

Rather like Eeyore from A A Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh, everything always seems to be downbeat for them. There are also a lot of people who, although not clinically depressed, find themselves nevertheless blighted by negativity they can't shake off. They may not be classically depressed, but simply live their lives under a permanent shadow.

Yet this latest research underlines the vital importance of addressing low mood and the effects it can have on health, wellbeing and your lifespan. But it’s all very well knowing that you need to change your attitude – it’s another thing being able to do it.

One effective way can be using cognitive behavioural therapy, or CBT. This is a form of talking treatment, available on the NHS, that research shows can help people to alter their perspective on the way they live their lives by challenging and changing negative and unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.

So, if you’re feeling down in the dumps and find life a grind, don’t put up with it –because help is at hand. Your GP can refer you for CBT but in the meantime, here are some simple suggestions that I have found to be helpful for my own patients.

Writing your worries down helps you clarify what is on your mind. Make a list of everything that seems hard to deal with in one column – and in another jot down ideas that might help to address these or improve things. You might not be able to come up with answers to everything but you should be able to find solutions that may help.

This will help dispel any feelings of hopelessness, which are a hallmark of negative thinking. It can be easy to mistake negative thoughts for fact – so you need to challenge them. If you start to think ‘I feel really depressed’, make an effort to challenge this by telling yourself: ‘It’s normal for moods to go up and down. This will pass.’.

Thinking positively takes practice. As soon as you have a negative thought, make yourself pause and think of three positive things to counter it. So, if you are served a dish you don’t like, rather than allowing yourself to dwell on it, concentrate on how nice it is to have someone cook for you, the pretty pattern on the plate and the delicious dessert you’ll be having afterwards.

If you keep doing this you’ll find that eventually more upbeat thoughts will come naturally. At the end of each day, look back over what happened and identify at least three things that went well. We all have a tendency to dwell on our mistakes and the problems we encountered. But every day is full of good elements too, if we only train ourselves to look for them. Over time, it will become a habit and each day will start to appear brighter.

Having a positive outlook isn’t about being relentlessly upbeat. It’s normal to have disappointments in life, but what matters is how you approach them. Accept that it happened and try to learn from it. One tip is to write down the disappointment, what happened and what was within your control to do differently. This will help you move on and put into perspective your own part in things.

Emma Raducanu posted a statement on Instagram after being left in tears last Tuesday when a ‘fixated’ man was removed from the crowd during a second-round tennis match in Dubai, which she later lost. Emma Raducanu had a frightening experience when she spotted a 'fixated' man in the crowd at a tennis match in Dubai.